Time to leave home

I've only used my Pennybridge as a wallet up to now as I didn't want to run the risk of losing one of my Maldens but I decided that this little lad is ready for the big world outside and as well as being my Bullet Journal Thought Capturing Brain Dump he's now my wallet come mobile holder. My Pennybridge and 'phone case are now resting. This is my Pocket Malden and the dingle dangle I chose for this is a trolley coin for use when I shop at the supermarket.

I'm on a roll with the Autumn theme and this is a plastic pocket with a cutting from a magazine inside.

Opposite my flyleaf I keep coins in the zip pocket and my card in the slip pocket. It doesn't seem as secure as in a dedicated card slot so I may transfer it into a plastic pocket.

My ICE information is in the next plastic holder,

followed by my year at a glance.

Inside is my Bullet Journal Thought Capturing Brain Dump plus some handy bits of note paper for shopping lists or notes.

The back pocket holds my mobile 'phone and in the other pocket is a bus timetable.

My bus pass fits in one of the front pockets and other relevant bus times are slotted in behind.

I really must crochet a suitably autumnal coloured ring protector. This purple one came out of my mini and is not quite the right size.

Happy Planning

Filofax Mini Finsbury in Raspberry

I use my Filofax mini Finsbury in raspberry as a wallet and it comes with me every time I venture out with a view to buying, travelling or recording information.

As such I keep here any cards I may need plus some added extras. The first page (badge holder) holds my ICE (in case of emergency) information with contact details of nearest and dearest.

On the other side is a list of my medication and major health issues just in case I have an accident. There's a little pencil I found tucked in the page. Next up are some holders of bus time information.

The middle section houses the diary starting with a yearly calendar, closely followed by ...

a week on two pages for the daily diary. The pages that came with the new to me Finsbury were 2011 but the majority of the year corresponds to 2016. I just alter 2011 to 2016 and I have a full diary recycled.

The notes section is cut down pages from a notes pad from B&M Bargains. They are easy pull out and I can jot down anything I wish - usually a shopping list but sometimes information or contact details.

A receipts pocket is handy for putting in … receipts of course ...

and there is a spare holder for any coupons. My ring protector is a crocheted version and tones nicely with the raspberry colour.

I did have a trolley coin hanging from the attached key ring but I changed it for some tinkling bells. They tinkle so much that I think I may put the trolley coin back and take these bells off!!!

At the back is a zipped pocket where I keep a few coins. They are not easy to get out but they are handy. The pen I found in my collection of motley pens and it just fits the pen holder.

Around the wallet is a large opening which contains notes.

The mini is small enough to carry around and large enough to hold what I want to carry with me as well as being a delight to hold.

Please click on the labels below for more detailed information linked to this mini.

Happy Planning

Personal Burgundy Classic Cross

By November 2014 I had acquired a second Filofax - a personal Classic Cross in burgundy, a wonderful rich red colour.

Here's a blog post from that time about how I then started to use planner number one plus this Classic (number 2).

Here's a quick tour of Filofax 1.

My tabs in this organiser are:-

House

Action

Ideas

Information

Passwords

and

Addresses.

This organiser is simply a reference section for my daily diary.

The house section is divided into:-

Month

Week

Food

Rooms

Finance

The Monthly pages have sticky notes with my intentions for that particular month. These goals can be fed into my daily pages so I am motivated to 'get things done'.

In the Weekly pages is an overview of suggested tasks for the day which basically boils down to -

* necessary as and when tasks - vacuum, laundry, dishwasher stack and empty etc

* suggested daily tasks to clean one toilet, one sink and vacuum one room with a choice of either cleaning a shelf, cupboard, drawer, skirting board or picture rail (which I've called swing tasks). I also aim to focus on a very quick overview and tidy of one room each day. The theory is that I'll have sparkling loos and sinks all the time and over time all my cupboards and drawers will be sorted and kept in order. :}

The food pages are just a log of freezer and cupboards so I'll use everything I buy.

On the rooms pages I've listed parts of the room to clean and these can be ticked off when I've done them. Once they're all ticked I'll either add to the list or 'go round again'. These pages feed in to the weekly task routine.

The finance pages just keep a log of supermarket shops and cash expenditure.

On the action pages I've listed jobs that could be done under different headings e.g.. Garden, Christmas, Music, Miscellaneous. Again these tasks can be chosen to be done on different days as and when I have time and inclination. It's very satisfying to tick off a task. (Sad, sad)

Also in the Action pages is a list of birthdays and cards that need to be made along with ...

… further pages detailing the tasks for the run up to Christmas and pages for lists of presents and cards received and sent.

My Diary Filofax (number 2) contains a monthly page view where I mark in birthdays, anniversaries, important dates and notes plus '2 page' weekly spreads. On each day I have my Daily tasks listed plus one or more other tasks which will fit in with the day.

Here's an example of a week that I've made up. Daily tasks are done from Monday to Friday, appointments written in and any other relevant jottings added. I've also put a quote at the top and the rooms I should concentrate on to get tidy.

I've made a handy 'puller outer' on to which I am able to stick a shopping list which I'll then take on my next shop.

My bullet notebook has fed in well into my routine and so far all 3 organisers are working well with the house reasonably tidy and clean. I've been able to remember (or been reminded to remember) things and am able to capture thoughts and ideas as soon as they occur.

I hope it all lasts!

Since then the burgundy planner went on to become a Christmas Planner, housing the run-up to Christmas from November to December. Perhaps that set-up is for another post.

Happy Planning

My First Planner

My very first planner was not a Filofax but a black, zipped, Microfile. It is the same size as a personal and the rings are the same size too.

Let's start at the very beginning way back in December 2013 when one of my New Year's Resolutions was to:-

"write down, record and plan in the hopes that these jottings will enable me to be more organised.

Mind you, I don't particularly like being too organised as I enjoy 'going with the flow' which is much more spontaneous, inspiring and creative."

The black zipped planner was my first ever planner purchase, from the Charity Shop. This planner got me started on the whole planner experience and is really the one to blame for my Filofax Journey. I made it my personal planner and crafted dividers and inserts to fit it. Here's a blog post I did back in January 2014 about this planner.

"My goodness, there are a host of people out there who rave over these organisers and even put videos on Youtube to show you how they use theirs! (I have not done a video and this is only an overview of what I've got and how I've used it so far.)

Being a 'saver of the earth' my organiser is new to me and came from the CS. It's a microfile wallet with filofax inserts.

Hey, hey, handy zipped wallet.

Hey, hey again - handy calculator. I don't know what I'll keep in the little pockets. Advice welcome.

First off are pages of months so I have used these to note down birthdays.

Following these are diary pages. If you look closely the year starts with 19__,  and there are no dates so I've had to go through and write them in. I've shown you the pages I've labelled correctly!

There are some timetable pages and I've used these to put in dates for dancing, jollies and gym.

There's a section for notes ...

and some handy little post-it notes.

The next sections are different ruled papers - white lined,

squared,

pink lined

and blue lined. On these lined papers I have notes about freezer contents, the money I've spent, the Christmas card list and cards I have to make.

I don't think I'll put addresses in as I have these elsewhere.

I like this Action section and I can have the joy of crossing out tasks achieved (if I achieve any).

At the end of the organiser is another book of notes which I may use for shopping lists.

There's my tour. Hope I've not bored you to tears and if anybody out there has other uses for the pages please share. My NYR is to keep organised and I want this to help not hinder me.

xx

Edit : After watching a few Ytube videos I've now personalised my organiser and brightened it up a bit with colour coded felt tips - e.g. green dots for no spend days, purple for birthdays. I've made some month at a glance inserts and added some colourful address cards. I've also made better dividers so I can find each section easily and I've crocheted a dangly page marker in sparkly wool.

Oh dear!"

Since that post my black planner now has another use but that's another story.

Personal Malden update

I've transferred my diary to the new Personal Malden in ochre just to use up the Filofax pages that came with it. I think I prefer my own design of page but I'm not going to waste these Cotton Cream ones.

I've added a dingle dangle just for decoration - it's an old ear-ring of DD's. The brown base matches the brown of the Malden.

No dividers are decorated as I thought I'd use this planner as/is.

Behind number 1 is the year at a glance. I can soon mark of March - how quickly the months go.

There are the monthly pages behind which are just 'use up' pages from another planner. I've found the list view quite adequate for my needs. I'll keep all these monthly pages and chuck the dailies so I make sure I mark in any important things that have happened at the end of the day.

Also in this Months section is a tracker of my spends in various shops. I've some space left so I may track other things as well. I know I'm drinking enough water so I don't need to track that. Any habits I want to get into I shall note down here and the first one is going to be - no chocolate tracking!

Behind tab 2 ...

is a To Do! Again this page is a re-use of an old diary page with the days crossed out with tape.

This master To Do List can be fed into any of the days on the following pages. I've enough space to write on these Week on Two Pages so I don't really need a daily page. I was finding that I was just writing for the sake of filling up the spaces on the other pages. This way I'm not wasting paper.

The other sections are not in use at the moment. Other information and planning is stored elsewhere.

I've sold one planner (the Hamilton) and am in the process of selling my Personal Classic Cross (which was my first Filofax and recently housed my Christmas planning) and Pocket Cross Filofaxes. They have to make room for (and pay for) an A5 that I just had to have.

A change is as good as a rest.

Happy Planning